Destiny's Child And Her Bridegroom
by High Roller Yunalesca
Summary: [Currently on hiatus until further notice.] Ever wonder what Rose Quartz's life was like long before she had Steven? Join us in this story as she is raised by priestesses and a former chancellor who try to teach her to use her gem to her fullest extent. Rating may change later on.
1. You're Here

**Author's Note: Hello there! I'm going to work on this now alongside _Magna Clades_ (which it shares a continuity with) and _Et Mundus Eos_. I hope you guys are hyped up for this one, because I sure am! :D (One more thing to note: my birthday is next Friday.)**

**Welp, please enjoy.**

**-Voltalia**

It was a dreary and foggy night at the Temple of the Venerable Goddess. Sitting on the very front step was a young rose-haired girl with a similarly-colored gem where her navel was. She appeared forlorn about something, but it was somewhat difficult to guess, judging from her expression alone. The sparkled iridescent fabric that wrapped around her skull was hanging down with her ringlets and catching the water vapors with sporadic ease. Her dazzled pink toga, which had a star-shaped hole to show off her gem, was slightly moist to the touch and was losing its starchy stiffness.

At that moment, a suave, slender light green-hued man walked up to the girl Rose Quartz and picked her up in a tight embrace, much to her delight.

This man was her surrogate father Nephrite. He had a narrow, oval face and an equally shaped jaw with a pointed chin and practically nonexistent cheekbones. His eyes were spaced not very far apart and tilted to resemble the eyes of the domestic feline. The nose was broad enough (at least through the bridge) to breathe through, but small enough to not stand out. The hair was styled rather meticulously with nothing in particular sticking out. He wasn't slender but he wasn't portly either. On his back, between his shoulder blades was a large, jagged gem that would summon a sword whenever he was provoked.

"Hello, my dear Rose." were his first words to the girl while he was hugging her. He noticed the melancholy expression on his foster daughter's face and set her down immediately. "What's the matter? Why are you up here by yourself?"

It took about a minute for Rose to work up the courage to speak. She choked out, "Priestess Ptilolite said that she and the others have picked a husband for me."

"Really?" Nephrite was slightly and oddly enthralled with this revelation. "Have they told you whom you've been arranged to marry?"

The prepubescent girl shook her head. "It scares me, Nephy." she answered, barely able to speak due to the fear of what was to come. "What if my husband's mean to me?"

"Oh, sweetheart." he said. "I'm certain the priestesses wouldn't have you be the bride of a Gem who'd hurt a child. You're lucky to have them as mothers; otherwise, only the Venerable Goddess knows what would be of you."

And he was right. Rose had no knowledge of her parents at all; her now-presumably dead real father had dropped her off at the Temple shortly after she had been born, and her actual mother had sacrificed her form just so she could have her. Nephrite had literally been there for her from the very beginning, beginning when he was asked by the priestesses themselves if he would establish a place in the young girl's life as her father. Naturally, being chancellor of the Chalcopyrite Queendom at the time, he couldn't dare to say no.

A lilac-hued priestess stepped out just as the young Gem was going to ask her father how he could be sure of what he had just said.

"Oh, there you are, Nephrite." this priestess Kunzite greeted warmly. "I'm glad you came back. What took you so long?"

"Oh, I just had to do some missionary work with the queendom of Spodumene, that's all." the light green Gem responded confidently. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I only wish, though, that Zoisite wasn't so much of a bother."

"Well, to be fair, he _is_ the new chancellor of our queendom." Kunzite said. "Oh, sure, he may be arrogant most of the time, but I think it's because of his neophyte status. Just give him time, sir."

"If you insist... by the way, Rose says she's worried about what sort of husband you picked for her."

"I can't blame her. Sometimes, the girls who are married off at her age wind up in the hands of dirty old men and lose their innocence way too soon. With that said, we picked for her a man we know will protect her at all costs and make sure that she'll still have her childhood to enjoy."

"Also, I think she may be concerned about whether I'll still be a part of her life even after she's married."

"Oh, Nephrite. Rose has nothing to worry about. After all, we chose you to look after her and we've seen over the years that she trusts you with all her being. So yes, you'll be in her life still."

Nephrite took a moment to let it sink in before Kunzite led him and the girl back inside.


	2. What Do We Do?

**Author's Note: If anybody asks, I had a fairly good 19th birthday this weekend. I've gotten a nice bathrobe so far as a birthday present, and there are more but they're still in my mom's car... which is stuck out in the bad weather. Ah, well. Enjoy this chapter, guys!**

**-Voltalia**

As soon as they had entered, Kunzite turned to Nephrite and gingerly placed her hand on his shoulder. The young girl took it as a cue that she should go off and leave them be.

"Why exactly are you keeping us in the dark about all this?" Nephrite couldn't help but ask. "If this has anything to do with me, I'd really like to know."

"It certainly does, sir." Kunzite asked with a soft smile. "But for the sake of confidentiality, we'll leave it at that."

"What about Rose, though?"

"As I said, she has nothing to worry about. Her husband won't be just a husband, but a guardian if you will."

Nephrite's reaction was an uneasy one, for he seemed ignorant of the direction this conversation was going towards. In a hushed (and rather harsh) tone that seemed to contradict his character as a whole, he responded, "I hope so, because I swear to you in the name of the goddess Marble that if I hear that you've married her off to that walking geode all Gems call Coquimbite or to Zoisite's goddessdamned father Tabby Quartz, I will make you wish you never saw the seasons change."

Kunzite was taken aback by this, but nevertheless continued with composure, "I appreciate your loyalty towards the girl, sir, but I doubt your death threat was necessary. I think it's time we moved on from that subject anyway."

* * *

The next morning, Nephrite caught sight of Rose dragging a bag of her possessions (including a _pupa _representing the queen Jubilee Diamond) behind her. He found himself worrying over her reasoning for this, and thus approached her as she was making her way to the temple entrance.

"Rose, where are you going?" he asked with a slight tremor to his voice. "You're not planning to run off, are you?"

The prepubescent girl turned her head to face her father. "Well, what else can I do if I don't know what's in store for me?" she asked him quietly.

She resumed on her way and was just about to open the door when she felt his arms wrap around her waist and lift her up.

"What are you doing?" she asked out of fright. "Put me down!"

"Rose..." Nephrite began. "You don't have to do this. Now I talked with the priestesses..."

"Y-yes, Nephy?"

"...and they just told me that...that..." He was fumbling with his words.

"That what?"

"...that I am the man they've arranged for you to marry..."

The girl's eyes widened with disbelief and her mouth gaped into a little "O." She couldn't decide whether to be overjoyed or just a bit freaked out; after a few minutes of awkward silence, she eventually went with the former and hugged him.

"Oh, Nephy!" she cried out. "I knew I wasn't going to lose you! I don't think I could bear to live without you!"

"I know it, love." the former chancellor said. "I probably should've gotten the hint when Priestess Kunzite said I'd still be a part of your life even after you were married."

Then there was another silence, this time a frightening and uncertain one. The enormity of the revelation had been the impetus and they both knew it. After a while (probably three or four minutes) of this, Rose broke the silence and asked, "So what can I think of you as now?"

"If there is one thing I know for a fact," he said. "It's that I'll still be your father."

* * *

Lilac-hued Kunzite kept fidgeting with her topknot bun over the fountain pool dedicated to the queendom's first ruler Chalcopyrite. It was very clear that she was starting to regret the decision she and the other priestesses had made to choose Nephrite as bridegroom. Her toga was starting to fall apart at the seams and the gem on her stomach had already began to crack. At this point, another priestess named Sulphur had come in to see her. Apparently, the others had grown worried over whether Kunzite was succumbing to mental (and physical) deterioration and thus sent the yellowish-green Gem to check things out.

"My Goddess, Kunzite, you look terrible." Sulphur was quick to observe Kunzite's moderately baggy eyes and gaunt figure.

"Thanks for observing, Sulphur, but my appearance should be the least of anybody's problems." Kunzite replied hoarsely. "Now go away."

Sulphur shrugged and inched herself towards the door. "If you say so..." she quickly grunted under her breath.

"Wait!" Kunzite called out to her.

Sulphur was nearly a foot away from the door when she turned around. "Yes, Kunzite?" she asked, still a bit hurt by Kunzite's irritability.

"Do you think it was a mistake to have Rose be the bride of her surrogate father?"

"Not at all. Why do you ask?"

"Well, lately I've been worrying that Nephrite will start taking advantage of Rose once they're married."

"Kunzite, you said so yourself that he wouldn't do something like that to her."

"I know, but-"

"I detest your use of the word 'but.' Now stop worrying and get on your duties. You'll thank me later."

Sulphur then grabbed Kunzite by the wrist and led her out of the room.


	3. Matrimony

**Author's Note: It's about time I got this up! Well, I've been awfully busy with school and life and stuff, but that hasn't stopped me from planning out chapter 4 of _Starchild_, chapter 2 of _Fight to Stay Alive_, and working on _Deity Heat_. Well, happy Easter!**

**-Voltalia**

The day had come for young Rose Quartz to tie the knot with her beloved father Nephrite. In a smaller, windowless part of the Temple, the seemingly-recovered lilac priestess Kunzite was fixing the pink Gem's hair into an oversized, frizzled, spiral-textured topknot bun (her hair was that curly) and had just crowned her with the chartreuse, diminutive rumored jewels of a goddess named Sphene Titanite. The stola was snow-white with some wine-colored stripes along the edges. Around the neck was the traditional _bulla_ embossed with some celebratory mottoes and symbols.

"I never thought we'd have to do this with you, dear _puella_." Kunzite said, misty-eyed. "And especially with your own father..." She sniffled a bit before composing herself again.

"Will the Queen be there?" the young girl asked anxiously. "I've always wanted to meet her."

The metallic blue priestess Shattuckite answered, "Yes. Yes, she will. And so will her companion Zoisite." (Queen Jubilee Diamond had a habit of calling her Chancellor/husband her companion.)

The young bride squealed with delight. She had always adored the Queen and her companion, but this would be the first time they'd meet for real. As energetic as she was, the thought of actually meeting the Queen Jubilee riled her up even more, so much so that the red priestess Ptilolite had to press her hands down on the young girl's shoulders and shift her body weight.

"Ye Gods!" Kunzite exclaimed. "Calm yourself, girl! We must get going!"

Kunzite hastily placed the _flamma_ upon the young girl's head and rushed her out the door to the atrium where everybody else was.

Rose was amazed to see just who was there. Besides the snow-white Gem-eyed Chancellor Zoisite and the yellow Queen Jubilee, present were the cerulean-hued pointy-eared Topaz who possessed a rather large pink crystallic cannon that resembled a rose, the dark violet-hued Kermesite (who happened to be an old friend of Nephrite's), steel-gray Petzite, and a whole other group of Gems that cannot be named right now. Officiating the ceremony was the pontifex herself, green-hued Sphalerite.

"Nephrite, Rose." the cold, rule-oriented Sphalerite imperatively said. "Come."

The former Chancellor and his surrogate daughter stepped forward to where the pontifex could get a good look at them.

"Now hold out your right hands." Sphalerite said once more.

The two soon-to-be-weds did as told. Sphalerite produced a small but sturdy gold-seamed rope and ordered the couple to face each other. She then bound their hands with the rope and began.

"Alright." she finally said again. "Now Rose, repeat after me: where you are Gaius, I am Gaia."

"Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia." the young girl said to her father with ease.

The pontifex nodded once before shouting, "It's done! Good luck to you and may you live out your lives with joy and loyalty."


	4. Meeting With Royalty

**Author's Note: And I'm back! Here's another chapter of _Destiny's Child And Her Bridegroom! _Ciao!**

**-Voltalia**

After the ceremony, Nephrite decided that he and his surrogate daughter were going to pay the Queen Jubilee a visit. Rose had asked her father if they could visit her privately, and he had complied. So they made their way to the palace, but they managed to get as far as the grand entrance passage before the Chancellor Zoisite stopped them.

"Well, if it isn't that snivelling little worm who tagged along with me on my missionary work..." Nephrite remarked quite hatefully.

Zoisite gave him an audacious, smug little smile as if he wanted to offend him. He watched for a little bit as Nephrite fumed on the inside, and he even managed to stifle a snicker here and there.

"There you go again with your arrogance..." Nephrite muttered. "May Granite have mercy on your soul..."

Zoisite snickered again. "Good one, sir." he replied. "But I dare to ask: what is your business?"

"Rose and I were wondering if we could see the Queen."

"Oh, well, you should've told me first thing..." Zoisite snickered once more. He turned around and yelled, "Your Majesty, the former Chancellor is paying you a visit!"

"Is this so?" a feminine voice called out from behind the doors.

"Of course, dear Jubilee!"

"Well, can't you just let them in? I've been expecting them for a while."

"Hold on a second."

"Alright, but hurry. I've got a meeting with some other Queens in just a few minutes."

After a minute of nothing but hesitance, Zoisite reluctantly let the regal guests in. Rose couldn't believe what she was seeing. There were exceptionally-detailed marble statues of previous Queens scattered in close proximity that highlighted every detail of their bodies. There was the flamboyant and twiggy founder Chalcopyrite, the quiet and stocky immediate successor Variscite, the seductive bell-shaped Axinite, the innocent and childlike Kornerupine; and then there was the mellow, aphrodisiac and curved Star Lemon Quartz who had recently died.

"Wow..." Rose could only say in amazement.

"I know, right?" the petite yellow Gem Queen rejoined. "This palace is one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Chalcopyrite." She then turned to her companion/Chancellor with a sweet smile. "Wouldn't you agree, dearly beloved?"

"Yes, indeed!" Zoisite perked up. "Just remember not to touch anything, and I do mean anything. The statues are irreplaceable, you know."

"Oh, shut up, you goddamn sycophant..." Nephrite immediately rebutted under his breath. "Don't act like you know this place from top to bottom when you've only been Chancellor for a _month."_ He proceeded to groan while rolling his eyes.

The yellow Gem Queen sent an annoyed and miffed glance at the former Chancellor a few seconds after he had done this. She couldn't stand to hear other Gems talk poorly of her companion, especially when one of them was a former Chalcopyrite chancellor who seemed to be envying the neophyte. Nonetheless, she kept her mouth shut lest she humiliate him and his surrogate daughter/wife.

"Anyway..." the white Gem Chancellor resumed speaking in his usual screechy broken-glass voice. "You wouldn't mind meeting the other Queens, would you? I think they'd _love_ you. Trust me, I have a good feeling about this."

"Really?" Rose gasped with the utmost hope.

Zoisite gave off a smug smirk at her. "Do I look like someone who'd lie about something like that?"

* * *

A while later, the visiting Queens had come over. There was the Spodumene Queen Idocrase, the Calaverite Queen Serpentine, the Iolite Queen Labradorite, and lastly the Tourmaline Queen Pietersite.

"Well, what's _this?"_ asked the gaunt chartreuse-green Queen Idocrase in awe.

"That would be the former Chancellor Nephrite with his new wife Rose Quartz." Jubilee pointed at the green Gem and his surrogate daughter. "My companion and I had just attended their wedding earlier."

"You've got to admit that there seems to be chemistry between the lovely couple..." the iridescent smoky gray Labradorite whispered to Idocrase.

"Which one?" Idocrase asked.

"Nephrite and his daughter, of course." Labradorite laughed. "They're a lot more believable than our hostess and her 'companion.'"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Jubilee and Zoisite's love for one another might be a sham, at least on Zoisite's part. I don't think I've ever seen him look at her with devotion once. I don't know, but if he truly loves her, he has an odd way of showing it."

Idocrase scoffed at this. "What do you expect when you have to work in a government position alongside your spouse? You can't exactly afford to court your lover while you've got serious work to do."

"Still... I can't help but feel that he's leading her on..."

"Ladies, I can hear you." Jubilee sternly said. "And just what do you mean when you say my companion's love for me might be a sham?"

"Well..." Labradorite fished for an explanation before Pietersite cued her to join her in another room.


	5. The Foreigner

**Author's Note: I'm on fall break this week, so I might manage to work in some time for writing more chapters when I'm not studying for college. Well, here's chapter five. I hope it was worth the wait!**

**-Voltalia**

Right after Nephrite and his surrogate daughter had participated in the Queen Jubilee's meeting with the other Queens, they headed out for the Temple of Heliodor to meet up with his old friend, the purple Gem named Kermesite, who had been at the wedding.

It had been a long while since Nephrite had actually communicated with Kermesite. The two had actually parted ways shortly before Zoisite was appointed as Chancellor, mainly due to Kermesite deciding to dedicate the rest of her days to witchcraft. Not that it was anything to be concerned about, but the art of witchcraft had always been an enigmatic sort, especially to the amphibious Xenophi and the scaled anthropomorphic and tuatara-like Opisthias. (The Opisthias themselves had shamans who were actually very proficient in their field, but they practiced something along the lines of voodoo.)

Anyway, as Nephrite and his daughter were approaching the entrance to the Temple, Kermesite just so happened to approach them. The same frizzled dark purple hair, grayish-violet skin that shined a dark eggplant under certain light, and three similarly-colored gems on her forehead that could summon a trident... yep, it was definitely her in the flesh.

"Hello, dear Kermesite." Nephrite greeted his old friend.

"You too, dear Nephrite." Kermesite answered right back with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Rose and I thought it'd be a wonderful idea to stop by after our wedding. Anything exciting happening in your life these days?"

"Not really; oh, except that this mysterious Gem who appears to be a Garnet just came here and asked to set herself up with me."

"A Garnet?" Nephrite tilted his head at this. "And here I thought they weren't willing to communicate with the rest of the world."

"Of course they aren't, but this one- oddly enough, I might say -does."

"But why? Why would she come to you of all people? You've just barely mastered the fine arts of the occult yourself, you have in no particular way interacted with anyone- other than yourself, needless to say -who has more than one gem, her kind doesn't even like ours, and she chooses to go to you?"

"Well, I suppose she might think I can help her with a crisis her people's magic cannot conquer..."

"I suppose that's likely, but I still find it odd."

"She's inside right now. Would you like me to introduce you to her?"

"I guess so."

"Alright then."

She led the two inside the Temple to meet the Gem who, by all accounts, looked very much like a Garnet; this couldn't have been more evident than in the dark reddish-pink skin, tightly-curled dark hair, somewhat straight-angle nose, plump lips, and three very beautiful oval-shaped eyes... wait, what?

"Ye Gods!" Nephrite exclaimed when he saw the apparent Garnet individual. "She's...very beautiful, but..."

"But what?" was the very first thing to come out of the foreigner's mouth.

The green Gem's eyes were locked onto the middle third eye on the visitor's face. There was something very odd about it, but maybe that was because of the violet iris it possessed or the fact that it seemed to function about as well as the other two eyes. Whatever it was, Nephrite found it to be rather unsettling.

"N-never mind." Nephrite managed to stutter out.

"Oh, right." Kermesite suddenly remembered. "M'lady Garnet- at least I'm sure you're a Garnet -if you wouldn't mind, this is my good friend Nephrite. He recently stepped down from his prestigious occupation as Chancellor of our Queendom. And next to him is his surrogate daughter and wife Rose Quartz."

"Hello." Garnet answered again, only this time with a monosyllable.


	6. New People

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I've been busy with college among other things; plus, I'm almost done with _Young and Beautiful_ and I should be starting on _Diamonds are Forever _right after that. (Meanwhile, I'll get back to work on _Time of the Season_ by the side.)**

**Well, here we are now. I hope to return to work on this fanfic one day, but for the moment I won't be finishing anytime soon.**

"Wow..." Rose could only say in amazement.

"I know." Kermesite beamed. "She's truly a very stunning specimen."

"I can see that." Nephrite added. The former chancellor kept staring at the supposed Garnet's pineal eye. "You wouldn't happen to know any other Garnets with a third eye, would you?"

"Well, I'm not sure we even know what their civilization is like," Kermesite shrugged. "So how would I know if there are Garnets out there with more than two eyes?"

"Point taken." Pause. "So where exactly did you find her?"

"I met her right outside the Spodumene border while I was on a pilgrimage."

"Is that right? It seems pretty coincidental to just come across her like that."

"Yeah... it does. It's almost like it was meant to be."

* * *

Meanwhile in the Chalcopyrite palace, Zoisite was approached by a Pearl with white skin and long frizzly peach-colored hair. She appeared to have a wild look in her silver-gray eyes and what looked like mascara trickling down her face. Tagging along with her was her daughter who looked just like her, except thinner and with bright blue eyes.

"Can I help you?" Zoisite asked as mannerly as possible.

"I've come most carefully upon the hour." Pearl answered cryptically. "I'm here to pay a dowry for my daughter's hand in marriage."

Zoisite eyed the clearly trembling young girl and smirked devillishly. "Of course you are. Did you, by any chance, discuss this with your husband before you left?" he asked the mother.

"Well, 'tis bitter cold where I am and I've grown sick at heart."

"That... doesn't answer my question."

"No, I didn't tell him. I hoped to wait 'til he returned from his military trip."

"I see. Well, I'm already committed to my beloved Queen, but how much are you willing to pay?"

"Two acres of forest, an old scrap doll, a statue of the god Orthoclase, my servants Anhydrite and Népouite, and some Calaverite persca pits."

"Sounds like a good deal to me. Let me just keep her until my Queen leaves the current marriage. Meanwhile, you better have your payment ready for next time."

"Thank you." With that, the mother made her exit.

Now the Chancellor and the little girl were alone. He looked at her and said, "Today's your lucky day, little Pearl. Your mother just sold you to one of the most sophisticated and erudite Gems to ever enter politics, not to mention the newest Chancellor."

"She recently stole a tortoise-shell ostrich from a barn, too, but I didn't hear anybody brag about that." the young Pearl snarked.

"What does that have to do with...?" Zoisite stopped himself before he could say anything compromising. "Well, anyway, since I'm already married, how about you work for me until I can find a way to end the marriage?"

"And what's this talk about ending your marriage? Do you even love your wife?"

The Chancellor thought about it for a minute. "Well, I did at first, but now I don't even think of her that way." He sighed for a moment and then looked at the girl again. "That's why I plan to get rid of her. It should be easy to pull off and by the time you and I are married, she'll already be gone."

It was then that the young Pearl started to bemoan her fate.


End file.
